Grasping for the Wind

Raise a Pint for Arthur Guinness!

Today be his birthday! Arthur Guinness (September 24, 1725 – January 23, 1803) was an Irish brewer and the founder of the Guinness Brewery business and family. Arthur was born in Celbridge and raised in Ardclough, County Kildare. Arthur set up his first brewery in Leixlip, but the first pint of Guinness was brewed in Celbridge in a pub where the Mucky Duck Pub currently stands.

In 1778, Guinness began to brew porter - the darker beer containing roasted barley and first drunk by London porters - and exploited Ireland's new canals to extend his market. In 1799, he brewed ale for the last time. Sales of porter increased threefold during the Napoleonic Wars, and in time St James's Gate became the largest porter and stout brewery in the world, its 'extra stout porter' becoming known simply as stout.

Check out the history of Guinness Beer here.

And check out his great-great-great-grandson, Dr. Os Guinness, here.

I, for one, am grateful to the man.

Posted by John on September 24, 2007 04:09 PM | Posted to History | Humor
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